This movie stinks

It doesn't smell as bad as yer sox.

Nothing is more beautiful than nothing.

It seeems more like a 1950 version of a TV movie. It was suppose to take place in Chicago (yet you can see palm trees in a few scenes) yet it was filmed mostly at Union Station in downtown L.A..

Um...Excuse me here, but I beg to differ. I watched it a while ago on TCM and I thought that IT ROCKS!! Matter of fact I'm gonna "vote" for it's DVD release PDQ on the TCM website! Anyone out there care to join me in casting a vote?

It's a pretty good film, regardless of the year it was made.

I've seen police dramas, cops & robber flicks, and gangster crap made in the 1990's and after 2000 (to the present) that are absolutely rubbish. Most can't even touch a film of the calibre of "Union Station," so I don't see what 1950 has to do with the quality.

The cinema-deficient teenie-boppers who think this "wasn't so bad" for 1950, probably have never heard of (let alone, actually seen) some of the great films (classics of the 20th Century, actually) that were produced in 1950.

Masterpieces such as "Sunset Boulevard," "All About Eve," "Born Yesterday," "Father of the Bride," "Panic in the Streets," "Caged," "The Asphalt Jungle," "Harvey," and "Cyrano de Bergerac," are today, considered among the finest films of all time.

Last, but not least,-- is one of my personal faves. It's a film-noir classic that's drenched in 1950 bad-girl atmosphere, as well as the film that cemented Audrey Totter's (already strong) reputation as an immortal demon goddess.... "Tension."

--D.--

its not bad at all

When there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...

It was alright, imo. Average.

It was lacking what I usually look for in a movie of that era before I call it a film noir - a psychologically damaged protagonist, or an Achilles' heel that leads one of the main characters to their downfall. At worst the Holden character was grouchy. The villain wasn't a snickering jackal a la Richard Widmark. He was more of a professional who was following a rational (if evil) game plan.

Even as a crime drama I didn't find it filled with much tension. The kidnap victim never seemed in great peril, and most of the action centered on cops hanging around a train station.

Rudolph Mate´s other 1950 movie D.O.A. is much better than this, but Union Station´s an effective enough suspense thingy itself. A well made thriller even though there´s nothing that special about it - besides a few excellently played set-pieces. A worthwhile film.


"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

I don't know if my judgment is biased by having only seen 50s movies on Netflix (and therefore only B-movies, pretty much), but I thought this movie was quite remarkable on a technical level. In terms of the cinematography, use of real locations, inventive staging and the pacing of the plot it is far above the typical 50s non-classics. Visually it really had more of a Howard Hawks or Orson Welles feel than a typical B-noir feel.

Of course the story is pure crime thriller. There's no real psychological or moral confict, despite a few stabs at one. But the same is true of a lot of well-regarded later thrillers. It seemed very much like the 50s equivalent of a Michael Mann movie.